Etymologically
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imaginarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.maː.ɡɪˈnaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.ma.d͡ʒiˈnaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

imāginārius (feminine imāgināria, neuter imāginārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin imāgō (“image, likeness”) + -ārius.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Livy and Seneca the philosopher on.[4][3] Livy uses it of sham insignia of power: they would not give way to imaginarii fasces, fasces that were a mere show.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means existing only in appearance or imagination: Seneca speaks of an empty honour of words (imaginarius honor verborum),[2] Suetonius of a fictitious kind of military service, and Florus of a stage king.[5][6] In law it is a fictitious, pretended act, such as the imaginaria venditio, the symbolic sale described by Gaius.[2][5]

The literal sense “of images” is found in an inscription about a funeral held with a lay figure,[2] and in the Edict of Diocletian for painters of figures.[5][6] As a noun, imāginārius is the soldier who carried the emperor's image as a standard, in Vegetius.[5][6] In Medieval Latin it also meant figurative, allegorical or symbolic, and concerned with pictures.[7][8] English imaginary (late 14th century) comes from it or from imagine with -ary.[9]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of sham insignia of office.[5][6][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of an empty honour.[2][3]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of a fictitious sale.[2][3]
  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for the bearer of the emperor's image.[5][3]
  • late 14th century – English imaginary appears.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of images; involving an effigy or figure.[2][5]
  2. Existing only in appearance, unreal, imaginary.[2][5]
  3. (law) Fictitious, pretended.[2][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Figurative, allegorical, symbolic.[7]

Noun

  1. A standard-bearer carrying the emperor's image.[5][6]
  • English imaginary

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com